by Jennifer Portman, Tallahassee Democrat

by Jennifer Portman, Tallahassee Democrat

The family of the woman who identified Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston as the man who sexually battered her criticized the Tallahassee Police Department Wednesday, saying a detective warned against proceeding with the case because Tallahassee is "a big football town" and she would be "raked over the coals."

A statement from the family says that on Dec. 7, 2012, the woman was raped by an unknown person. The woman immediately reported it to law enforcement and cooperated with all requests from officers, the letter says.

In early January, the woman identified Winston as the attacker, the letter says. The family became concerned that she "would be targeted on campus" and requested help from an attorney friend. The attorney contacted TPD Detective Scott Angulo.

"When the attorney contacted Detective Angulo immediately after Winston was identified, Detective Angulo told the attorney that Tallahassee was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable," the letter said.

The family provided the two-page statement to the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday, and the Tallahassee Democrat obtained its own copy. The family's name is not referenced in the letter. The Democrat does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The woman's Dade City attorney, Patricia Carroll, said in a telephone interview Wednesday she was shocked by the detective's comments and assumed that the State Attorney's Office had been notified of the case.

"I believed at the time that the state attorney was certainly in the loop. I made that assumption because it is protocol," said Carroll, a former state prosecutor now in private practice.

TPD officials, however, did not bring the case to State Attorney Willie Meggs' office until Nov. 12, following media requests for the police report to be released. Meggs began working on the 11-month old case the following day. Carroll said the woman is cooperating with prosecutors.

Meggs said Wednesday his decision on whether to charge Winston could come next week.

Carroll said she learned of the media inquires on Nov. 12, when TPD Sgt. Joanna Baldwin called her about the pending information requests.

"That is the first we heard anything about it," Carroll said.

The woman was in Tallahassee and enrolled in classes at FSU, Carrol said. The next day, police released a redacted copy of the report, the story quickly spread and she packed up and went home. Contrary to some media reports, Carroll said the woman never left the state.

"This whole thing blowing up in the news is certainly not a positive development for the victim who has been trying to get on with her life," Carroll said. "It is not with glee that (her family) decided to release a statement."

At a hastily called media briefing at Tallahassee City Hall on Wednesday evening, Tallahassee Police Department Chief Tom Coe said there are many questions the department cannot answer because the case is open and active. But he stood by contention that the woman initially broke off contact with investigators and her attorney said she did not want to press charges.

Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen of Tallahassee, declined to comment on the family's letter.

"I'm going to follow the request I made of Mr. Meggs and not comment on the facts of the case until he makes his decision (whether to press charges against Winston)," said Jansen, who added he is being retained by Winston, not FSU, and is not affiliated with the university in any way.

The family's letter includes a list of questions about TPD's handling of the case and contradicts some previously published reports. In an e-mail written last week by Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson to city commissioners and obtained by the Democrat on Tuesday, Favors Thompson said the woman was intoxicated after drinking at a local bar and the case stalled because she did not wish to go forward with the prosecution.

The letter, however, says Angulo told the family the woman was not intoxicated based on her blood work and that she was cooperating with police. Carroll told the detective the family needed to obtain additional blood-work and DNA results to make a more informed decision.

"At that time, Detective Angulo specifically refused to collect Winston's DNA or interview Winston's roommate who witnessed the attack," the letter said. "Detective Angulo stated that such activity would alert Winston and the matter could go public."

The family's letter said Carroll repeatedly tried to get laboratory results from Angulo and TPD's victim advocate, and that the woman and her family were available at all times to investigators. Carroll said at no time did her client tell police she did not want to go forward with the case. The family also thought only law enforcement was aware of the incident.

"If the victim had been aware that Winston's attorney was alerted as far back as February, she would have insisted that the Tallahassee Police Department immediately collect DNA and interview, at the very least, Winston's roommate who witnessed the attack," the letter said.

The letter says the woman was "devastated" when she learned last week that Winston's attorney knew about the case for so long, allowing him to prepare his defense and witnesses. Jansen has denied that there was collusion between attorney and witnesses.

"The victim cannot fathom that the State Attorney's Office was not given the same opportunity," the letter said. "The family was shocked to hear that Winston's attorney was not only aware of the case but had been told by the Tallahassee Police Department that the case had been closed in February. All the while, the family was awaiting blood work results until early April."

The letter says the woman never intended for the case to become public and has been trying to move on with her life "which has now been turned upside down once again." The family said it has not been the source of any information about the case prior to its Wednesday statement.